N.Y.C. mayoral race like therapy session

It has not been the way that the last three mayors have approached things. Bloomberg, who is divorced, has refused repeatedly to discuss his private life. The same held true for Koch, who had never married and whose sexuality was long a source of intrigue.Giuliani gave one of the most memorable moments of oversharing with the press corp in the city’s history, announcing he was leaving his wife at a jaw-dropping press conference.

But that moment followed years of him calling his private life off-limits, and happened only because the weight of his messy personal life finally came crashing down.

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“We’ve had a series of mayors … [who have] all carved out their own space and they didn’t want anyone to intrude on that,” said Bill Cunningham, a former communications diector for Mike Bloomberg.

“They are doing it for very different reasons,” said Richard Socarides, a longtime gay rights activist who noted the gay rights movement was founded on the notion that being gay is not a choice, and McCray’s experience would run counter to that notion.

But he said he applauded her doing the interview with Essence, which is where she first published her essay decades ago, and said she was clearly working through an important issue.

Muzzio also applauded McCray for being open, while being less than moved by Weiner’s disclosures. Most strategists said voters do admire overcoming adversity, but it is the depth of disclosure that is surprising.

Mitchell Moss, a New York University professor and former Bloomberg adviser, said this is all something the voters will take in stride.

“I think this is the year where corruption has trumped sex in New York politics, and it’s becoming clear that we’re much more forgiving and much more accepting with how you organize your personal,” he said. “We’ve had more than a decade to get familiar with the personal idiosyncratic behavior.”

He noted that the New York mayoralty, for all the focus on the larger-than-life personalities of Giuliani and Koch, is very much about performance.

“It’s [a job about] actually being responsible for activity,” he said. “People are going to vote for the mayor based on who can run the place.”